Mass. Market: Architects seek changes in state’s model school program

Jon Chesto

Saturday

Apr 25, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 25, 2009 at 12:39 AM

Even as they criticize the Massachusetts School Building Authority, members of the Boston Society of Architects realize they also have to work with the agency – especially as the model school concept is rolled out for elementary schools.

When voters flocked to the polls in Norwood on April 6 to approve a nearly $70 million high school, they helped solve the town’s longstanding school-accreditation woes.

But the impact could be felt far beyond the town’s borders: The school will be the first to go up under a “model school” program launched last year by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which claims Norwood will save as much as $30 million by participating.

Not everyone is celebrating. Many architects cringe at the thought of a model school expansion. The critics say this one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work well in Massachusetts, and they say the savings that the state building authority touts for Norwood are illusory.

The program also could limit competition by directing additional school design work to the two firms – Architecture Involution and Mount Vernon Group Architects – that were behind the state’s two designated model schools.

Even as they criticize the building authority, members of the Boston Society of Architects realize they also have to work with the agency – especially as the concept is rolled out for elementary schools. That’s why the architects met with agency staff on Tuesday to lobby for changes to the model school program.

Katherine Craven, the agency’s executive director, says she plans to talk with the architects at a follow-up meeting on Monday about their concerns. However, Craven says there’s no question the model school approach for the Norwood project – which was modeled after the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School – saved the town tens of millions of dollars.

State Treasurer Tim Cahill, chairman of the school authority’s board, has made meaningful strides in curbing the state’s runaway school construction costs. Craven says Cahill backed the model school program as part of that effort. Model schools, she says, also give local officials a key opportunity to see and touch a building that will look like their own.

But critics say most of the savings in Norwood can be traced to the construction industry’s slowdown, which forced hungry contractors to offer competitive bids. They say the concept could be more effective in a state with unchanging topography, like Nevada or Florida – but not in New England where the plans will face significant revisions for a specific site. And they say local tastes and curriculum needs vary wildly from town to town.

Proponents say the Norwood school won’t just be a cookie-cutter duplication of Whitman-Hanson. For example, Scott Dunlap, a principal at Architecture Involution, says the Norwood school will be customized to match the Greek Revival style popular in the town. Dunlap says the basic elements will be the same, shaving nearly one-third of his firm’s design costs and one year off the design time.

At the very least, the critics want the building authority to take a different approach with elementary schools. Instead of picking schools that have been open for several years such as Whitman-Hanson and Ashland High, the architects’ group suggests a new game plan: Hold a contest for towns to submit proposals to build schools that would be specifically designed as models that could be replicated. The concept, among other things, would limit the revisions needed to keep up with code changes.

Craven says she sees the benefits of that approach. But waiting for a model school to be built could take a few years, and the state could miss the discounts available in the construction market right now. No matter what happens with the discussions, Craven says no single architectural firm will end up with a significant share of the state’s school construction work. There are too many projects that won’t be appropriate for a model school design, she says, even with the extra financial incentive the state provides.

The program’s future isn’t only important for towns such as Plymouth and Tewksbury where officials are weighing whether to use it for their own projects. With as much as $500 million a year in state sales taxes devoted to local school construction, the issue of how to pay for each new public school affects all of us.

Jon Chesto, business editor at The Patriot Ledger, may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.

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